Hachiman Hikigaya
Hachiman Hikigaya is the main protagonist of Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru. He is the viewpoint character of the series. He is a student in class 2F of Sōbu High School and the second member of the Service Club. Appearance Hachiman is a teenage boy with short black hair, and his most prominent feature is his set of dead fish-eyes and a strand of hair sticking upwards. He is always seen wearing his school uniform and a casual orange T-shirt. Hachiman sometimes acts quite vain, since once he claimed that he has a nice face, to which Yukino retaliates by saying that he has rotten eyes without commenting anything about his supposed "handsomeness". In the light novel, Yukino states that she criticized Hachiman's unattractive facial expression, not his facial features, which she believes to be the proof of his twisted nature. Once, Yui answered to Totsuka, who felt that Hachiman is outstanding, stating that he is quite plain-looking and it would take quite a lot to notice a person like him. From both their description, it is safe to say that he is indeed handsome, but it was diminished due to his dead-fish eyes and gloomy expression. Because of this, girls are under impression that he is gross, disgusting, creepy and even a pervert. In the drama C.D. Komachi pointed out that his eyes were not always rotten and that they were once normal in pictures and videos when he was younger. Hachiman furthers the point by stating how there was a time when he was innocent and carefree. In the anime version whenever Hachiman's past is shown, it should be noted that his eyes are mostly covered by a shadow or purposely not shown to the audience. Personality He is an apathetic, isolated and''' friendless boy. Hachiman firmly believes that youth is simply an illusion created by hypocrites, for hypocrites are born from the ashes of past failures. According to Komachi, he’s not very photogenic. He does things by himself and never relied on anyone, since he doesn't have any genuine friends to rely on. He tends to talk to himself which is one of the most prominent features of the Light Novel. Shizuka describes his personality as rebellious and loner-prone. She also says that he has the nature of a petty criminal and spineless goon with which Yukino instantly agrees with. She is the first person to point out his rotten eyes and mindset, and that he has a sour attitude. Yui says that the way he acts in class is totally gross or disgusting. In fact both Yukino and Yui often used words such as gross, disgusting and creepy to describe Hachiman. It was mentioned in Episode 13 that almost all the girls in Sobu High School treat Hachiman as someone that is gross and disgusting, but in a completely different and very belitting manner from Yukino and Yui. Hachiman explains that the girls in the relay races were pissed and uttered the word gross when he handed them the baton in the sports festival. It is mentioned in the light novel that girls from his class occasionally give him looks as though he is a piece of trash, even putting trash in his class desk when he is out for lunch to his favourite spot. Strangely Hachiman didn't have a good opinion of girls either, at least in the begining. This can be seen when Hachiman refered almost all the girls he interact with as a slut or a bitch, either confronting straight forward or in his mind.This also includes Yukino, Yui, Iroha, Yumiko etc, due to his belief of girls are not genuine and are all after looks and money. This is all due to his past experience with the opposite gender, but it lessens as he made a firm acquaintance with them. Hachiman is sometimes mentioned as twisted by other characters in the series, such as in regards to Yui's question about her appearance in a monster costume, he gives his answer in a roundabout manner or when Yumiko demanded explanation from Yui for her absence during lunch, Hachiman says to himself that he doesn't want to save Yui as he would lose his position of being known as someone pathetic. It was mentioned that during middle school, he used to cosplay. He was an otaku to some degree and usually makes references to different animes and mangas during his inner thoughts. Hachiman tried his best to be sociable during middle school life, but all steps failed and he was ostracized as his actions were made as a joke to laugh for others, as in their opinion he is creepy, gross and uninteresting. Hachiman was the victim of verbal bullying which is reason for him to decided to stay alone and developed his apathetic & pessimistic attitude. He refuses to change, as he believes that no matter what changes the individual goes through, people will never change their view of the individual (First impression) He often points out all examples from his own life experience by saying "Source: Me". He often blames society for his personality and other problems as well. This can be seen when he concocted a plan to break off the relationship between Rumi's peers by exposing their selfish nature to each other. This makes him be seen by others as an extremely horrible person. His pessimistic attitude and lack of self-value is clearly mentioned in light novel. He firmly believes that nothing good happens to him and forces himself not to hope for something that is not existent. He makes others hate him in a way to keep himself at a distance, so that he won't be disappointed nor hurt by their superficial acting. He feels himself to be a hindrance to others and avoids being there with them, purposely distancing himself out of concern. Hachiman believes that he is insignificant and is thus willing to become the scapegoat, no matter how significant the situation is to him, in order to protect everyone and keep them happy. Despite his so called rotten personality he does show signs of being kind underneath his exterior as shown by the various methods he goes through for the sake of other people. However, this comes at a cost of causing pain to himself or others. He often keeps his face stiff and thus surprising everyone by his concern for the individual. The people who have experienced or know of his kind nature are Komachi, Yui, Iroha, Shizuka, Yukino, Ebina, Haruno and Hayama. However, despite his good intentions, his methods are greatly flawed and cost him his reputation and relationships. His teacher, Shizuka pointed out that his intentions of helping others are not a good reason for him to hurt himself, as even if he himself is used to the pain, there are those who will find it painful to see him hurt. It should be noted that Shizuka herself almost wept when she was telling him that.She also adds that if he stick to his way, he will not be able to save the person he want to save the most . He is mostly result-oriented, hence he is not bothered by any process, as long as no other person gets hurt other than himself and if it gives him the desired result. He will even perform dogeza if he has to. As a result, most of his actions are loathed by those who are aware of his true intentions. Being alone since young, he does not know how to rely on others. Also, he does not understand the feelings of allys, as he judges by reasoning alone, and as a result occasionally hurts those close to him, as reminded by Shizuka. He may be seen as dense person sometimes but it is actually just a facade to avoid any hard feelings due to expectations by his harsh experience from his unwanted past. Even though Hachiman can lower himself to perform dogeza, he has an unusual pride. Hachiman refuses to accept anything he considers pity or sympathy. This can be seen when Hachiman refuses to accept Yui's friendship, and also to take an offered honey toast for free, as he felt it to be a kind of charity, Another example would be his agitation of Hayama's action towards Orimoto and her friend in the double date, as he realizes that Hayama's action was just to make up for helping him in the past. Even though Hachiman doesn't like his own method of doing things, he has pride in his work, as he won’t let anyone call it self-sacrifice. He will not let anyone call those who picked to the best of their ability the choice that was most effective amongst their limited choices a victim. He feels that it was disgrace that surpassed everything and was blasphemy against those who desperately tried to live. He turns down all invitations and avoids engaging in all social activities as a first reflex of a loner since elementary school. Hachiman assumes and fears that there must be some ulterior motive to any invitation he receives because of his experience in past and also as a reflex .This can be seen in his attempt to turn down invitation such as Yui's offer to celebrate Hachiman's birthday or her invitation to the firework festival, also to Hayama's invitation for class celebration of cultural festival success through Yui and also Hayama's invitation to a double date with Kaori Orimoto Chika Nakamachi. Exceptions for this are Haruno, Shizuka, Saki, Iroha who manages to forces him to comply however he replies. It should be stated that the only person who Hachiman will readily accept any invitation only if it's from Totsuka. Haruno on the other hand is someone Hachiman dislikes because of her attitude and facade but also finds them terrifying to some degree which causes him to comply whatever she asks him to do. It should be noted that Hachiman has a soft spot for younger girls given that he's an older brother himself as seen on how he treats Iroha, Rumi and Keika. Later, in the light novel and episode 8 of Season 2, Hachiman realizes his mistakes in doing things and thus vows to change little by little, knowing that his rotten personality can't be swept under the mattress in a single day & knowing his methods will not be able to help the person he wanted to. He gives his word to the service club members that he will do something about his attitude, during his request to help Iroha. He then shows an emotional side of himself where he was on the verge of tears when he states to both Yui and Yukino that he wants "something genuine", Hachiman has some degree of humor and sarcasm. People who know him and his way of thinking can understand, while others may feel pity for him. Most of it seems like he is degrading of himself. But really, it is the reverse, pointing towards the entire society for example: Hachiman's response to Hayama and Yumiko during the tennis match "Who is this "everyone" guy I never have met him before". Hachiman's answers to Yukino's question to improve Yui's cooking "Don't let Yuigahama cook". When Hayama questions about, what if Hachiman was in the same middle school as him he says "Lonely shadow will be there in school". Hachiman supporting Yui's claim of Yukino's determination, "Not even your cooking can drive her (Yukino) away". Hachiman's cultural slogan suggestion, to which Haruno and Yukino laughed. In the light novel, Hachiman mimicked Yukino in-front of Yui and Yukino herself. Hachiman's response to Haruno when she inquire about the fight between Hachiman and Komachi, "Compared to your end this is not what you would call fighting ". Hachiman's explanation about Sobu High School while peeking at Saki "You'll get less delinquents, though there are exceptions". Hachiman sarcastic and teasing reply to Haruno in the conversation about her mother, "Is your mother scarier than Yukinoshita (Yukino)", "Is she still human?". Hachiman's sarcastic and twisted answer to Haruno's question of whether he likes Yukino, "My mother asked me not to be picky". But, Kaori's idea of Hachiman being hilarious cannot be taken into account which puzzles Hachiman himself. Hachiman dislikes superficial acting just to blend in. Thus, he hate Hayato's Clique which is relying on false friendship. However, he wants to forget his past traumatic experience and wished to reset his life, thus avoiding anyone from his middle school. His hobbies include reading, watching TV and sleeping - anything that prevents interaction with others that may invite ridicules or gossips that is targeted at him. '''Essays and monologue More at Looking Back on High School Life Report. Abilities He can cook curry as mentioned in light novel. He was also responsible for house chores when his sister was in elementary school to keep her safe from sharp instruments in the kitchen. He has decent artistic skills, as he drew a bear in his second essay. Hachiman is quite''' intelligent. Even for his poor academics in science and maths, he is often able to formulate a plan within the given situation and time. He has very good observation/perception which can be seen as he looks past several persons' facades and superficial acting within seconds from meeting them for the first time. He tends to read along the actual meaning behind other people's lines, but rarely communicates or interacts with his subject to understand them, instead applying what he sees to his ideals and judging them/making decisions off of its own logic. For example, he described the relationships between Tobe, Ooka and Yamato with Hayama, and strips away Sagami's, Iroha's and Haruno's facades almost immediately, and some characters don't even bother to hide their cover after their covers were blown when they are with Hachiman. This has been pointed out by Shizuka, Yui, Yukino, Hina and Haruno. After spending a lot of time being a loner due to unsuccessful socializing in the past, he obtains an extensive knowledge in reverse psychology, often using this understanding to manipulate social interactions and dissect motivations, intentions, judgments, hidden meanings etc. This can be seen at Yui's request of improving her skills in making cookies, the summer camp incident where he planned to expose the selfishness of Rumi's peers by asking Hayato, Tobe and Yumiko to act as bullies to threaten them, finding Sagami within 15 minutes while the entire school was searching her for a whole day by deducing her ways of thinking, and, during the confrontation with Sagami at the school laboratory rooftop, exposing Sagami's intentions, making her cry and be rescued by Hayama and her friends. Thus, Hachiman gave Sagami what she wanted, the most popular student in the school defending her and forced Sagami to take up her role as chairman of cultural festival planing committee He is also a fast learner once he understands things clearly. This can be seen in light novel when he quickly grasped the functionality of student council from cultural and athletic committee, from which he implemented his tactics during the Christmas collaboration event of Sobu High and Kaihin Sogo High, surprising his middle school classmate Kaori Orimoto and making her wonder if Hachiman was in student council during middle school, even though she very well knew that he wasn't. In later chapters Hachiman implements great leadership. He thinks outside of the box, minimizing risks for everyone involved, even though he is not in the Student Council. The few people that realized Hachiman's leadership potential and intelligence are Shizuka, who brought him to the Service Club, also Shiromeguri Meguri, Saki and her younger brother Taishi, Isshiki and it is not far-fetched to assume Yukino, Yui, Iroha, Orimoto, Zaimokuza, Saika and probably Hayama, Tobe and Hina as well. Hayato once praised his talent by saying that if Hachiman attended their former schools, where Yukino was being harassed frequently by her jealous schoolmates, things would turned out differently. He also has decent negotiation skills, as Hachiman is able to convince others to go along with his plan, even if they are against it. For example, he managed to persuade Iroha to take her role as the student council president while explaining to her the benefits of being one. At Chiba Village summer camp, he managed to convince Tobe, Hayato and Yumiko to carry out his plan to break Rumi's relationship with her peers by pretending to threaten them so that their true selfish natures were revealed. However, he is unable to persuade Tobe to give up on confessing to Ebina. In light novel, Hachiman is said to be skilled in choosing empty spots in heavy crowd to pass through, unnoticed. He names this skill: Stealth Hikki, and was almost able to apply it at the Sports Festival's pole drop event but failed as Hayama was keeping an eye on him. '''Academics He is implied to be skilled in Japanese, as he holds the third highest score in his year, outmatched by Yukino (1st) and Hayama (2nd). My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected Manga: chapter 1 pg.29 Hachiman also has an astounding knowledge in Japanese history. He quickly deduced that Yoshiteru Zaimokuza's delusions were based on the 13th Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate. Furthermore, there is a Bodhisattva whom Hachiman shares his name with. Hachiman also knows a lot of things about his home town Chiba exceeding Yukino's knowledge. Even Yukino has admitted that he knows his history.My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 2; part B My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected Manga: chapter 4 pg.11 Besides, Hachiman is also proficient in English, especially advanced vocabulary such as outsourcing, job rotations, work sharing, subcontractor, and final judgement. He also pointed out of Komachi's mistaken use of word the "jammed" with comparison of her mouth to a machine gun. However, he is incredibly bad at science and maths, an example of this being when he confused a hernia for herpes, and he generally score 9/100 in maths. This was pointed out by Yukino more than once in the series. Hachiman also has a wide range knowledge to some degree as pointed out by Komachi, Yui, Yukino due to reading of variety of books. Most of the time he shows his presence of mind and intelligence in case of social & personal understanding of the individuals. Shizuka points out that his test scores are alone is good, indicating that he knows how to score marks without proper content. In Volume 4 Hachiman recollected his summer camp days of how he deduce the correct answer to all the riddles of the scavenger hunt but was ignored by others 'Sports' Hachiman is skilled at tennis according to Saika. His tennis skill is almost on the same level as Yumiko, Yukino and Hayato. He even invented two techniques that Zaimokuza gave fancy names to, much to his chagrin as he feels that nothing so special about them. Combined with his knowledge on the breeze that blows twice at his school, the techniques prove to be formidable after all, as Hayato missed the ball for the first time and he himself admitted that it was Hachiman's magic ball. With another technique, Hachiman made the ball bounces of off the ground with a tremendous force that Yumiko has to run in order to catch it and will crash to the court enclosure and injured herself, if Hayato didn't save her. Technically, Hachiman won the match, but since Hayato "heroically" save Yumiko, the spectators overlooked his victory and applauded Hayato instead as though he is the winner. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 3; part A-B Hachiman is skilled at swimming, according to the drama CD, he swam two kilometers in middle school because he had nothing else to do when his class had pool lessons. The light novels mentions that in middle school Hachiman got 'A' in sports test earning him a medal (although this was more due to his so called 'friend' apathetically recording his shuttle-run times). He also has a lot of stamina and was able to caught up with Hayama during the marathon, something he attributes to going to school in bicycle everyday. History It was mentioned in Drama C.D, that he was named Hachiman because of the fact that he was born on the eighth of August. Since his birthday falls in summer vacation, he was never wished a happy birthday every year by his classmates. He never received any chocolate from the opposite gender during Valentine's Day, even from his own mother. He played Jenga game alone, with no other player to play with him. When he was a kid, he didn't have many friends, and so he invented the new sport of one-player baseball. He would throw the ball by himself, hit it by himself, and catch it by himself. When he tried to devise a scheme to make the game last as long as possible, he realized that super bat-and-catch was the best way to lengthen the game. This gave birth to his final serve named by Zaimokuza as Meteor Strike in Tennis court showdown against Hayama and Yumiko pair. He feared of asking anyone about the content on an upcoming test, and instead, he just studied silently alone and then faced the consequences directly later, because of his unwanted past with fellow students. This leave him with no choice of clarifying doubts or lessons, especially in science and maths leading to poor grades. He always walks behind them like a shadow and they never took his opinion for consideration Which is mentioned by him in the Light novel of his past many times.This is a similar trait of Rumi Tsurumi. Until the end of his middle school there were a lot acquaintances whom he thought to be his friends but they didn't seems to be treat him the same way. They just treated him as someone to laugh at. In light novel it is clearly mentioned that they introduce Hachiman to others as a laughing stock & classmate but not as friends, which dissappointed him in friends. In bonus drama C.D of volume 3, It was mentioned that once Hachiman was invited to a birthday party because the whole class was obligated to go but was not invited second time which Hachiman feels that he might have made some fatal mistake It was mentioned in light novel that Hachiman was not invited anywhere by his acquintance whom he thought to be friends and when he coincidntally passes by their party site they would either make "why is he here?' face or "who is He?" face.The atmosphere there is mentioned to be dead because of his presence which Hachiman mentions in the current time line more than once.. A glimpse of Hachiman's past can be seen on the double date where Hachiman wasn't texted or invited. Another is Kaori's treatment of Hachiman throughout the double date, where she was constantly poking fun at him for invalid reasons to praise Hayama in comparison to his actions and also to keep their conversation lively, as if Hachiman is nothing more than a laughing stock to them. 'Before Middle School' In elementary school, students were doing a folk dance. Hachiman was paired up with a girl but she didn't want to hold hands with him alone. The other girls followed suit. In Hachiman words, he danced with the air for the "Oklahoma Mixer" My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 8; part A in 4th grade, his classmates forgot his name and nicknamed him "Hikikaeiru (Hikifroggy)". They made jokes that were related to his nickname. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 7; part B A group of kids were playing tag while Hachiman stood still. The "it" aims to pass a virus named after him. They imagine that the Hikigerma virus was so powerful that barriers were ineffective. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 5; part A In the light novel, he played Mario tennis by himself. He received corn as a birthday present by his mother's friend given to him by her son who he thought to be his friend. Once his classmates decide the splitting of groups. Hachiman was waiting for an opportunity, but his late homeroom teacher, Isehara-sensei tells to other students that she knows all of them dislike Hachiman, but it's unkind to leave him out. Hachiman still didn't forgive his late home room teacher for that as he hates being sympathised. 'Middle School' In middle school, there is a chummy atmosphere between students and teachers, everyone addresses each other by first name with the exception of Hachiman. Hachiman shown to be in his desk reading alone. Hachiman was the victim of verbal bullying in junior high and thus he continued his former loner's life of not wanting to get hurt or hurt others. Classes got reshuffled and everyone exchanged numbers. Hachiman mustered courage and eagerly searched for a girl. He found one and she reluctantly exchanged numbers. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 4; part A Hachiman used to text girls often. In Hachiman's words, he would get a dismissive reply 40% of the time (he says that he text them at 7 P.M but gets reply in the morning like “sorry, my battery ran out” or “looks like I was out of range for a bit” or "I was sleepy, see you at school" ) and 30% of the time he would get no reply. The remaining 30% was from a foreigner called mailer-daemon (he didn't seem to know, that it is a program to indicate that the mail was not delivered due to various reasons), indicating that the girl likely gave him a fake address. At some time, Hachiman went to Chiba village for nature studies My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 7; part A , which he later visits again after joining Service club as summer activity. When he was in 8th grade of new semester, the role of class male representative was dumped on him by the fellow male students. While a girl volunteered for to be a girl representative, that girl frequently talked to him. He thought she was interested in him. One day, he decided to ask her who she liked. She replied with the first letter which was "H". Hachiman asked if it was him. The girl was surprised and disgusted. The next day Hachiman saw a drawing mocking him on the class chalkboard much to his shock and dismay the whole class know about it, even though it was just the two of them at that time (in anime and manga adaptation). My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected Manga: chapter 2 pg.27-28 My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 1; part B In the light novel, after the incident the girls hate him even more and the boys nickname him "Narugaya" (Narcisst-gaya). In drama CD, it was mentioned in middle school that there was a girl he liked who belonged to the wind instrument club. On that girl’s birthday, Hachiman gave her a present, by staying up all night compiling a bunch of anime songs to recommend. He paid careful attention to the song selection. His present was accepted. But tragedy occurred the next day. At lunch time, in the PA system of the school, The broadcast committee chose his song by saying : ‘"Aaaand the next song was requested by Class 2C’s Otagaya Hachiman-kun (snicker), a love song (snicker) for Yamashita-san!’". After this incident, the name Otagaya passed on even after his graduation which is mentioned by his sister Komachi who is studying in the same school. Before or after the above confession, Hachiman confessed to another girl (In light novel Kaori-chan). Her response was to instead "just be friends" but they never spoke again.She is the only girl to whom Hachiman officially confessed so far. Despite the fact that the confession was private, it was made a public knowledge of the class and gossiping topic the very next day. The gossiping girls felt sorry for Kaori that Hachiman was the one to confess to her and were glad that they didn't give their contact IDs to Hachiman while sneering which can be heard by Hachiman very clearly. My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected Light Novel: Volume 1; chapter 1 My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected Manga: chapter 1 pg.21 My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 1; part A The last time he talked to a girl was two years before the current time in June. He made a joke in response to an unnamed girl who was complaining about the heat. It turned out that she was actually talking to another girl seated behind him. What followed was an awkward situation. Whenever Hachiman recalls this memory, he hides and screams to himself under his futon.My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected Light Novel: Volume 1; chapter 1 My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected Manga: chapter 1 pg.26 My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 1; part A It was mentioned in the light novel, once, people used to throw wrappers of local specialty sweets in his shoe locker, the perp was clearly one of the girls from his class and the fact that they would not even try to hide their criminal conduct made it hurt him even more. Whether it was a field trip or any other school outing trips. It was also mentioned that he had also been through a confessions of love by the opposite gender as penalty for losing at rock-paper-scissors, fake love letters written by boys who copy down what girls dictate to them. When Hachiman went to receive a medal for the A score in Sports test during the closing ceremony, everyone burst out laughing. In Volume 7 Chapter 4 in light novel, It was mentioned that in middle school he had to pass along a letter folded like a diamond or open blouse, unaware of the written insults of him on it. In the flash back sequence in time of Hachiman request in anime version, it is shown that Hachiman is almost same in middle school as he is in High school, reading novel in class without speaking to anyone, playing squash in gym session, walking home alone while others are walking back in a group & talking. 'High School' After middle school, Hachiman doesn't want to have any contacts with his middle school classmates, which he states as a Reset or Deletion in relationships. Hence he worked hard to enter Sobu High School where his middle school classmates would definitely not go to. It was mentioned in the light novel that every year, only one person from Hachiman's middle school goes to Sobu High because of its high standards and requirement. However by coincidence, he met Kaori Orimoto later in the series. He goes to school by bike, despite the long distance and intense weather of hot summers and blisteringly cold winters, the main reason is to avoid running into classmate and acquaintance of his. On the first day of the High school entrance ceremony, he was excited about his new student life, to the point which made Hachiman run to school an hour early. While traveling he spotted and saved Yui's dog from a potential car crash, also sealing his fate of being a loner for the starting of his high school life. The result was a bone fracture that caused him to be bedridden in the hospital for three weeks. This put him on the fast track to his loner lifestyle, since everyone else had become acquainted and grouped up by the time he arrived.My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 4; part A He was forced to join the Service club by his future counselor, Shizuka-sensei, in the hopes of fixing his rotten personality. At some time in the past, Komachi ran away from home once because she hated returning to an empty house. It was Hachiman who found her and he has been returning home before her ever since. However, in the light novel it was mentioned to be a lie told by Komachi to make Saki understand her brother's worries, as Hachiman is surprised and has no recollection of the incident at all.My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 5; part B In the light novel, Hachiman is the only one who doesn't get space to write his future goals in year book. It was also mentioned that he had a lot of part time jobs before joining the service club but none seems to exceed more than 3 months. The reason seems to be that he couldn't get along with anyone because of his past. This and his poor scores in sciences and maths lead him to the choice of becoming house husband. Hachiman frequently sleeps in class during break or his free time due to his lack of someone to talk to. If he isn't sleeping, he may be reading books and giggling. He also giggles while reading amusing stuffs in novels in both the club room and class room, "grossing out" Yui and Yukino. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 3; part A At lunch, Hachiman eats alone at his favorite spot because of the nice sea breezes that blow in from the shore. During gym class, Hachiman practices against a wall by himself, as usual by his own scheme, since he doesn't have a tennis partner, thus he plays squash. He suggests practical suggestions to all the requests to the service club, he goes to the extent of scapegoat or take blame himself for the sake of others, as he very well knows that the society will blame someone when something bad happens and someone will definitely become the short end of the stick. This is seen when he uses a selection of crude words towards Sagami in order to make her fulfill her duty as a cultural festival chairwoman. As a result, he receives a negative reputation from those who hear about it with exceptions of those who know his true intention. Fortunately, it blows off as time passes. Before the cultural festival, Hachiman is someone whose existence are barely noticed, even to his fellow classmates. This can be seen when he came late to his class once, almost all his classmates give him a stare that suggested that he was a stranger, and when Yui asked them his whereabouts, they didn't recognize him eventhough he was from the same class as theirs. During the tennis match, while the spectators cheered for Yumiko, Yukino and Hayato, none gave him even one. After the infamous rooftop incident, Hachiman received negative reputation from them. He is also subjected to condescending jokes as seen in Tobe's Somethingtani-kun on his surname, much to some of his classmates' amusement. When Tobe says Hachiman is unreliable during his request to the Service Club, Ooka and Yamato giggles in agreement. In the light novel, Sagami's clique often make sardonic laughter and pass insulting gossips about Hachiman. Fortunately, due to the good times they have in Kyoto, this soon ceases. Furthermore, the rooftop incident is known to select few only, such as the planning committee members, 2-F students, Haruno, Shizuka, Atsugi-sensei (his reaction is unrevealed) and possibly Komachi as well. So, Yukino's statement of Hachiman becomes the most hated person in the entire school is somewhat questionable, and she is simply teasing him. Furthermore, during the sports festival, Hachiman is able to participate in without receiving hostility from his schoolmates, apart from the disgust from the girls when he hands them the baton in the marathon (it should be noted that even before the rooftop incident, Hachiman is already unpopular with the girls). 'Difference from pre-High School life' He is in a club and takes on the work more seriously, even though he hates to work.His social circle also extend some what but doesn't deepens with anyone. While Kaori once mentioned that Hachiman wasn't in any club in midle school and was also mute that many didn't know about is exsistance Hachiman was mentioned to be mute/unsocial by both Kaori and Yui in times of their debut, but as the series progresses, he is able to interact with students from different classes and even of different schools without any issues. This indicates that his social and communication skills are improving slowly. Hachiman somewhat changed in terms of growth which is noticed by Shizuka sensei later in the series. Unlike his previous school life, Hachiman participated in planing committee of Cultural Festival and Athletic Festival committee. He also volunteered for Christmas collaboration event & Pre valentine event on behalf of his school along with Kaihn Sougou High.Hachiman also participated in the athletic festivals even though his team was disqualified for cheating. Hachiman is in good term with at least of two girls. In High school there were more than one situation for Hachiman either to go out on a date or date-like situation with girls, primarily with Yukino, Yui, Iroha. He also went on a double date with Hayama, Kaori, Chika, though only because he was scared by Yukino's elder sister - Haruno. Kaori whom he had a crushed and got rejected in middle school ,now patched up things with him and she even goes to the extent of giving him valentine chocolate and offered him to be her friend.It was also mentioned that Hachiman sweat profusely when talking to girls especally Kaori in past but now he casually talks to any girl including Kaori without any nervouseness Kaori once mentioned that it was rather rare to see Hachiman anywhere outside, even in the region where his house is located which is also agreed by Haruno, But currently Hachiman is mentioned to hangout in places with his acquintance. He visited game-arcade and theatre with Saika and Yoshiteru in times of summer vacation .Also places like destiney land, Aquarium, Shrine with Yukino, Yui and Komachi. Hachiman helped a lot of aquintance under the service club.Hachiman is relied by the student council headed by Iroha in times of Christmas colloboration event and also relied by council headed by Meguri in times of athletic festival planing committee.It also not far fetched to know that the success is either directlly or indirectly rest on Hachiman's doing. Hachiman was made fun off, ignored and looked down upon by his past acquintance which is a sort of bullying throughout his past school life but when Komachi enquires about his High school life he was unable to explain but comparitively he says that he is not bullied, He looks at Yukino's word as nothing more than jab as it is. Hayama, the most popular person in school, is mentioned to have some kind of inferiority complex towards Hachiman. He also recieved valentine chocolate as a pretext from his club mates and also a courtesy cookies from Yui more than once and also is former middle school crush promises to give him courtesy valentine chocolate. In light novel he begins to change is future plan from household husband to something else but didn't reaches any conclusion, but plans to enter a random university in Chiba. Social Suicides Done by Hachiman * Confession to Kaori Orimoto at the middle school and was rejected as she wished both of them to remain friends, but they didn't speak to each other afterwards. The incident spread in their class, and Hachiman gained sneer and ridicule from the girls. They were even grateful that they didn't exchange their contact numbers with him, which Hachiman was able to hear clearly. * At Chiba village summer camp, Hachiman planned to break the relationships of Rumi Tsurumi's peers who loathed and frequetly badmouthing her for no valid reasons by convincing Yumiko, Tobe and Hayato to act as delinquents threatening them in order to expose their selfish nature to each other. The girls have intense quarrel with each other after "sacrificing" Rumi. At the end of the cultural festival, Tobe shared his opinion that Hachiman was seriously terrible and told his cilque members that something not unlike the rooftop incident happened during summer also. * During the cultural festival planning committee members meeting, Hachiman suggested a slogan containing thinly-veiled, harsh criticisms on slacking off members and also Sagami's hypocritical own. This earned him contempt from them as they muttered what was wrong with him. However, this made the entire members started to fulfill their duties more seriously. * When Sagami refuses to come out of her hiding and return to her duty as a chairwoman of the cultural festival, even after being coaxed by the popular Hayato and her two friends, as she felt she was worthless, Hachiman assaulted her with arrays of harsh words and sneered at her unworthiness, causing Hayato to slam him on the wall and warned him to cease talking. Sagami was moved when she saw the school idol defending her, and agree to return to her duty. The incident spread among the planning commitee members and their fellow 2-F clasamates as well, drawing disapproval and disgust from them, as all of them were under impression that Sagami became a victim of Hachiman's behaviour. Fortunately, there were some that were aware of Hachiman's true motive, and felt that he was very brave. As time passed, this blew over. * During Kyoto field trip, Hachiman falsely confessed to Hina Ebina in front of Tobe, who was about to do so, much to the shock of Hayato, Ooka, Yamato, Yukino, Yui and Tobe himself. Hina then solemnly relied she was not yet ready to date anyone and will reject any confession, no matter who he is. Tobe understood Hachiman's intentions and didn't harbor any hard feelings for him. Hayato then told Hachiman that he knew his methods of doing things. Yukino then voiced her intense hatred of Hachiman's method and Yui cried as she asked him whether he didn't understand others' feelings. Fortunately, the incident was kept secret from their classmates, not to mention Hina was grateful for him keeping Hayato's clique intact. The Rooftop Incident Sagami: Like, I’m just the worst… Hachiman: You really are the worst. Sagami. In the end, the only thing you really want is to be pampered. You’re acting like that because you want people to care about you, right? Like now, you just want them to say ‘that’s not true at all’ to you. It’s obvious a person like that won’t be treated as the Chairperson. You really are the worst. Sagami: What are you saying…? Hachiman: I’m pretty sure everyone’s already realized. Even someone like me who doesn’t know a single thing about you can understand. Sagami: Don’t put me together with the likes of you… Hachiman: We’re the same. We’re both living at the bottom of the world. Think about it. I don’t give a damn about you, yet I was the first one to find you. So, doesn’t that mean… no one was actually seriously looking for you at all? Don’t you realize it yourself? That you’re just— Hayato: Hikigaya, shut up for a bit.https://kyakka.wordpress.com/yahari-light-novel/volume-6/chapter-9/ Addressed / Nick names : Hikki '' by Yui Yuighama : ''Hikitani-kun ''by Tobe, Hina, Hayama : ''Hikio by Yumiko Miura : Hikikairu/Hikigaeru ''by Fifth graders from Hachiman's past : ''Haa-chan by Keika Kawasaki : Senpai by Iroha Isshiki : : : Hikigaya-kun ''by Yukinoshita Haruno : ''Onii-chan ''by Komachi Hikigaya, Taishi Kawasaki'' : Hikigaya-kun but, Yukino has also called him Hikigerma, Hikifroggaya, Hikifoil, Mr. Most Hated Guy in the Entire School and Fishigaya. ''by Yukinoshita Yukino : Quotes *"What if... And this is strictly hypothetical... What if you could reload your save data to change your previous choice, like in a game? Would it change your life? The answer is a resounding no." *"Everyone has something they hold dear, something they never want to lose. That's why they pretend. That's why they hide the truth and that's why they lie.. but.. the biggest liar of all.. was me. *"I hate nice girls. Just by exchanging greetings with them will get them on your mind. Start texting each other, and your heart will be set a flutter. If they call you, you're done for. Enjoy staring at your logs and grinning like a fool. However, I won't be fooled again. That's what your kind calls kindness. If you are nice to me, you're also nice to others. I always end up nearly forgetting that. Reality is cruel, so I'm sure lies are a form of kindness. Thus, I say kindness itself is also a lie. I always ended up with these expectations. And I always ended up with these misunderstandings. And before I knew it, I stopped hoping. A highly-trained loner is once bitten, twice shy. As a veteran on this battlefield of life, I've gotten used to losing. That's why I will always… hate nice girls." My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU ''Anime: episode 5; part B *"We only change to avoid the current situation. The true meaning of not running away is planting your feet firmly in the ground and doing the best you can with your present. Who's running away now? Why can't you just accept who you are and who you were?" My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected Manga: chapter 1 pg.39 *"Hardwork betrays none, but dreams betray many. Working hard alone doesn't assure you that you'll achieve your dreams. Actually, there are more cases where you don't. Even so, working hard at something is some consolation at least." *“Oh yeah? Good on you to notice. You’re right, I am nice. I’ve been through all kinds of things in my life, but I haven’t gone out for revenge on a single person at all. If I was any other normal person, this world would’ve ended already. You could even call me the savior of the world.” Hachiman to Yui *"Guys are simple creatures. They get the wrong idea just from getting talked to. They'd be happy just getting handmade cookies. They don't need to taste good." * "I hate private parties and inside jokes… Ah, but I do like internal strife. Cuz I’m not on the inside!” *"The world won't change, you must change yourself in this world. Now, how will you change yourself? Answer is, you become the god of the new world." *"We're back to how we started and can now live our own lives again. There's no reset button on life, but at least you can reset your relationships." *"People often say, "If I change myself, I'll change the world." That's a load of crap. People's judgment of others create a stereotype, and that's the impression that lasts. Loners are forced to do things alone. If you try to stand out by working hard at something, you just become a target for attack. It's the rotten rule of the children's kingdom." *"MOT is cool and awesome!" *"There's probably no one who's more of a realist than the unpopular loner. I have lived my life with the Three Nevers of the Unpopular: Never to hold (hope), Never to open (your heart), Never to treasure (sweet words)." *"Hey, stop getting so chummy with me, I might even start treating you as a friend." *"The rich want their private jets and beaches. So it follows that loners, who always have plenty of private time, are the victors in life. Ergo, being alone is the new status symbol." *“I want something genuine.” *"Life goes on regardless of whether you're laughing or crying, and your high school days will eventually draw to a close." *"It's not like I can't talk to people. I just don't indulge in pointless small talks." *"Life is something that can never be lived twice. Even this pointless act will eventually end. And while thinking that one day, I'll surely regret its end." *"Fake people have an image to maintain. Real people just don't care." *"See, it’s simple. ––A world where no one was hurt is now complete." *"There was no meaning to things that were only superficial. That was a single belief that both me and her once shared." *"Girls were made of sugar and spice, and all things nice." *"Everyone is a slave to their past. No matter how much you wish to move forward, the events of yester year will bear down on you like the light of the stars as soon as you glance up. Unable to laugh or to banish your past, you carry it ceaselessly in a corner of your heart, waiting for it to resurrect at an inopportune moment." Trivia * Hachiman has a list of people he wish to murder (naming his notebook's "People to Kill"), which includes Yukinoshita Yukino. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 2; part B *Hachiman used to have "spirit world diaries" and "government reports". My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: episode 2; part B **He maybe suffered a "chunnibyou" state during his time because, despite of cosplaying during his middle school days, he also has a "Spirit World Diaries" notebook. *Hachiman likes teachings of Buddhism, since he feels that his ideals match with it. *Hachiman knows many things about Chiba and has a great love for his home town Chiba. *Hachiman likes MAX coffee which he seems to drink frequently. *Hachiman hates tomatoes My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime: OVA; Intro and insects. *Hachiman has an iPhone which he uses for the alarm, applications, and games rather than for talking. *Hachiman used to drink tea in the Service Club in a paper cup My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Anime Season 2: episode 1; part A, but later Yui and Yukino gave him a cup with an image of Pan-San as a gift and as a way to show him that he is important to the both of them. *Some fans affectionately compare Hachiman with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'Batman' Batman]. **There was a scene where Batman takes all the blame for Harvey Dent's murders in ''The Dark Knight ''and it was very similar to how Hachiman performed social suicide so that Sagami is spared from all the blame for disappearing while she could fulfill her duty as the cultural festival chairwoman. *Interestingly, both Hachiman's and Hayato's first and last name started with the letter H. Also, both his first and last names have 8 letters, while Hayato has 6 letters for each. *Hachiman seems to enjoy eating at Saizeriya. *It was shown on the 2nd episode of the first season of the anime that he owns a Nintendo Gamecube and likes to cosplay during his middle school days. Then on the 7th episode, it was also shown that Hachiman also owns a Black PSP. Interestingly enough, it seems that Hachiman is a typical type of gamer. *Hachiman may have a heavy reference to Houtarou Oreki from Hyouka, both are the protagonist, smart but lazy but they do their own works in time, they were being forced to join the club, and both were introverts. They also have their messy hair trademark, but Hachiman's eyes are differently compared to Oreki's drowsy eyes, and they have different perception of people around him. **He also somewhat resembles Rider of Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Blue and Silver. **His eyes and poker face are similar to Feitan's of Hunter x Hunter. *Hachiman is named after a god of war and archery in Shinto and Buddhism. His name means God of Eight Banners. Since ancient times Hachiman was worshiped by the peasants as a god of agriculture and by the fishermen who hoped he would fill their nets with much fish. **Interestingly, Yukino once states that the motto of the Service Club is to teach a man how to fish, he won't go hungry ever again. **Furthermore, his eyes are mentioned to resemble that of a dead fish's. *Hachiman Hikigaya won an Award as Best Male Character Award held last October 10, 2015 at the NewType Awards in Japan. Including his voice actor himself, Eguchi Takuya. Gallery References Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Sobu High School Category:Class 2F Category:Service Club